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The Cambridge Companion to Verdi
This Companion provides an accessible biographical, theatrical, and
social-cultural background for Verdi’s music, examines in detail
important general aspects of its style and method of composition,
and discusses stylistic themes in reviews of representative works.
Aspects of Verdi’s milieu, style, creative process, and critical
reception are explored in essays by highly reputed specialists.
Individual chapters address themes in Verdi’s life, his role in
transforming the theatre business, and his relationship to Italian
Romanticism and the Risorgimento. Chapters on four operas
representative of the different stages of Verdi’s career, Ernani,
Rigoletto, Don Carlos, and Otello, synthesize analytical themes
introduced in the more general chapters and illustrate the richness of
Verdi’s creativity. The Companion also includes chapters on Verdi’s
non-operatic songs and other music, his creative process, and writing
about Verdi from the nineteenth century to the present day.
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The Cambridge Companion to
VERDI. . . . . . . . . . . .
edited byScott L. BalthazarProfessor of Music History, West Chester University of Pennsylvania
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cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi, Tokyo, Mexico City
Cambridge University PressThe Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 8ru, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
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First published 2004
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Contents
List of figures and table [page vii]List of examples [viii]Notes on contributors [x]Preface [xiii]Chronology [xvii]
Part I � Personal, cultural, and political context
1 Verdi’s life: a thematic biography Mary Jane Phillips-Matz [3]
2 The Italian theatre of Verdi’s day Alessandro Roccatagliati [15]
3 Verdi, Italian Romanticism, and the Risorgimento Mary AnnSmart [29]
Part II � The style of Verdi’s operas and non-operatic works
4 The forms of set pieces Scott L. Balthazar [49]
5 New currents in the libretto Fabrizio Della Seta [69]
6 Words and music Emanuele Senici [88]
7 French influences Andreas Giger [111]
8 Structural coherence Steven Huebner [139]
9 Instrumental music in Verdi’s operas David Kimbell [154]
10 Verdi’s non-operatic works Roberta Montemorra Marvin [169]
Part III � Representative operas
11 Ernani: the tenor in crisis Rosa Solinas [185]
12 “Ch’hai di nuovo, buffon?” or What’s new with RigolettoCormac Newark [197]
13 Verdi’s Don Carlos: an overview of the operas Harold Powers [209]
14 Desdemona’s alienation and Otello’s fall Scott L. Balthazar [237]
Part IV � Creation and critical reception
15 An introduction to Verdi’s working methods Luke Jensen [257]
16 Verdi criticism Gregory W. Harwood [269][v]
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vi Contents
Notes [282]List of Verdi’s works [309]Select bibliography and works cited [312]Index [329]
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Figures and table
Figure 4.1a Nineteenth-century Italian aria form, Rossini [page 50]
Figure 4.1b Nineteenth-century Italian aria form, mid-nineteenth century [50]
Figure 4.2a Nineteenth-century Italian duet form, early Rossini [54]
Figure 4.2b Nineteenth-century Italian duet form, mid-nineteenth century [54]
Figure 4.3 Nineteenth-century Italian central finale form, mid-nineteenthcentury [57]
Figure 4.4 Nineteenth-century Italian ensemble introduzione form, Rossini andVerdi [61]
Figure 4.5 Nineteenth-century Italian final scene form, Verdi [63]
Figure 4.6 Verdi, Ernani, I, 1, introduzione [66]
Figure 8.1a Rigoletto, II, 10 (following the scena), duet Gilda-Rigoletto (afterPowers, “One Halfstep at a Time,” 154) [144]
Figure 8.1b Rigoletto, II, 9 (following the scena), aria Rigoletto (after Powers,“One Halfstep at a Time,” 156) [144]
Figure 14.1 Keys in Verdi’s Otello [250]
Table 16.1 Winners of the Premio Internazionale Rotary Club di Parma“Giuseppe Verdi” [274]
[vii]
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Examples
3.1 Verdi, Nabucco, III, 11, “Va pensiero” (chorus) [page 34]
3.2 Pietro Cornali, Canto degli italiani [36]
3.3 Verdi, La battaglia di Legnano, III, 7, “Digli ch’e sangue italico”(Rolando, Lida) [41]
3.4a Verdi, La battaglia di Legnano, I, 2, “Viva Italia! sacro un patto”(chorus) [43]
3.4b Verdi, La battaglia di Legnano, III, 9, scena, terzetto, finale [44]
5.1a Verdi, Il trovatore, IV, 13, “Mira, di acerbe lagrime” (Leonora) [71]
5.1b Verdi, La traviata, II, 4, “De’ miei bollenti spiriti” (Alfredo) [71]
6.1 Verdi, Luisa Miller, II, 8, “A brani, a brani, o perfido” (Luisa) [90]
6.2 Verdi, Luisa Miller, II, 8, “Tu puniscimi, o Signore” (Luisa) [95]
6.3 Verdi, Un ballo in maschera, I, 1, “Alla vita che t’arride” (Renato) [100]
7.1 Verdi, La traviata, I, 5, “Ah, forse e lui” (Violetta) [114]
7.2 Verdi, Les vepres siciliennes, V, 2, “Merci, jeunes amies” (Helene) [115]
7.3 Verdi, Les vepres siciliennes, III, 3, “Au sein de la puissance”(Montfort) [116]
7.4 Verdi, La battaglia di Legnano, IV, 1, “Deus meus” (priests) / “O tu chedesti” (people) / “Ah se d’Arrigo” (Lida) [119]
7.5 Verdi, Les vepres siciliennes, II, 8–9, “C’en est trop” / “Jour d’ivresse”(chorus) [120]
7.6a Meyerbeer, Robert le diable, III, 7, ballet of the debauched nuns [122]
7.6b Verdi, Macbeth (1847), III, 4, “Ondine e Silfidi,” mm. 89–94 [122]
7.7 Verdi, Macbeth (1865), III, 2, ballet of witches, mm. 69–80 [123]
7.8 Verdi, Macbeth (1865), III, 2, ballet of witches, mm. 120–41 [124]
7.9 Verdi, Les vepres siciliennes, I, 2, “Viens a nous, Dieu tutelaire”(Helene) [125]
7.10 Verdi, Don Carlos, II, 9, “O prodige!” (Carlos) [126]
7.11 Verdi, Les vepres siciliennes, II, 3, “Comment dans ma reconnaissance”(Helene, Henri) [130]
7.12 Verdi, Les vepres siciliennes, IV, 5, “Adieu, mon pays, je succombe”(Procida) [131]
7.13 Verdi, Don Carlos, II, 9, “Quoi! pas un mot” (Carlos, Elisabeth) [134][viii]
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ix List of examples
7.14 Verdi, Otello, I, 2, “Gia nella notte densa” (Otello, Desdemona) [137]
9.1 Verdi, Nabucco, sinfonia, opening [155]
9.2 Verdi, Luisa Miller, sinfonia [156]
9.3 Verdi, Falstaff , II, i, related motifs [166]
10.1a Verdi, Sei romanze (1838), “In solitaria stanza” [171]
10.1b Verdi, Il trovatore, I, 3, “Tacea la notte placida” (Leonora) [171]
10.2a Verdi, “Cupo e il sepolcro e mutolo” (1843) [173]
10.2b Verdi, Ernani, IV, 14, scena e terzetto finale [173]
11.1 Verdi, Ernani, I, 3, “Ernani! . . . Ernani, involami” (Elvira) [189]
11.2 Verdi, Ernani, I, 8, “No, crudeli” (Elvira, Ernani, Carlo) [190]
11.3 Verdi, Ernani, motifs based on a rising interval [193]
11.4 Verdi, Ernani, II, 12, “horn” theme [193]
12.1 Verdi, Rigoletto, beginning of the prelude [199]
12.2 Verdi, Rigoletto, I, 3, “Quel vecchio maledivami!” (Rigoletto) [200]
12.3 Verdi, Rigoletto, I, 7, “Ah! la maledizione!” (Rigoletto) [200]
12.4 Verdi, Rigoletto, III, 14, “Ah! la maledizione!” (Rigoletto) [201]
12.5 Verdi, Rigoletto, III, 11, “La donna e mobile” (Duke) [206]
13.1 Verdi, Don Carlos, II, 11, Duo (Philip, Posa), three versions of apassage in division 1 (b) [230]
13.2 Verdi, Don Carlos, II, 11, Duo (Philip, Posa), two versions of a passagein division 2 [231]
13.3 Verdi, Don Carlos, II, 11, Duo (Philip, Posa), three versions of apassage in division 3 [232]
13.4 Verdi, Don Carlos, II, 11, Duo (Philip, Posa), three versions of apassage in division 4 [232]
13.5 Verdi, Don Carlos, V, 22, Duo (Carlos, Elisabeth), settings ofcorresponding French and Italian texts from division 1(a) of theopera’s finale [233]
13.6 Verdi, Don Carlos, V, 22, Duo (Carlos, Elisabeth), from division 2 ofthe opera’s finale [234]
13.7 Verdi, Don Carlos, V, 23, Final (Carlos, Elisabeth, Philip, GrandInquisitor, Dominican monks, cloistered monks), from division 3(b)of the opera’s finale [235]
13.8 Verdi, Don Carlos, V, 23, Final (Carlos, Elisabeth, Philip, GrandInquisitor, Dominican monks, cloistered monks), from division 3(d)of the opera’s finale [236]
14.1 Verdi, Otello, II, “Credo in un Dio crudel” (Jago), motifs [245]
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Contributors
Scott L. Balthazar is Professor of Music History at West Chester University of
Pennsylvania. His articles on nineteenth-century Italian opera and theories of
instrumental form in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries have appeared in
the Journal of the American Musicological Society, Journal of Musicological
Research, Journal of Musicology, Opera Journal, Cambridge Opera Journal,
Journal of the Royal Musical Association, Current Musicology, Opera Quarterly,
and Music and Letters.
Fabrizio Della Seta is Professor in the Faculty of Musicology at the University of
Pavia in Cremona. He has edited Verdi’s La traviata (1997), the autograph
sketches and drafts for that opera (2000), and Rossini’s Adina (2000). He is
currently general co-editor of the Edizione critica delle opere di Vincenzo Bellini.
Andreas Giger is Assistant Professor of Musicology at Louisiana State University. His
recent studies have focused on Korngold (Journal of Musicology), censorship
(Cambridge Opera Journal), and prosody in Verdi’s French operas (Music and
Letters). He co-edited Music in the Mirror: Reflections on the History of Music
Theory and Literature for the Twenty-First Century and is the founder of the
Internet database Saggi musicali italiani.
Gregory W. Harwood is Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in Music at
Georgia Southern University. His volume Giuseppe Verdi: A Guide to Research
(1998) has become a standard reference tool in Verdi studies. Other research
interests include topics related to Robert and Clara Schumann, Maurice Ravel,
and Hector Berlioz.
Steven Huebner is the author of The Operas of Charles Gounod (1990) and French
Opera at the Fin de Siecle: Wagnerism, Nationalism, and Style (1999), as well as
numerous articles on Italian and French opera. He currently holds a James
McGill Chair at McGill University in Montreal, where he has taught since 1985.
Luke Jensen is Director of the Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender
Equity at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he previously served
as Associate Director of the Center for Studies in Nineteenth-Century Music and
as Affiliate Faculty in the School of Music. His publications include Giuseppe
Verdi and Giovanni Ricordi with Notes on Francesco Lucca: From ‘Oberto’ to ‘La
traviata’ (1989) and a five-volume guide to the Gazzetta musicale di Milano for
the series Repertoire international de la presse musicale (2000).
David Kimbell is Professor Emeritus of the University of Edinburgh, where he was
Dean of the Faculty of Music from 1995 to 2001. His principal research interests
are Italian opera and the music of Handel. His most recent publication was the
completion, with Roger Savage, of The Classics of Music, Michael Tilmouth’s
edition of the previously uncollected writings of Donald Francis Tovey (2001).
[x]
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xi Notes on contributors
Roberta Montemorra Marvin is Associate Professor at the University of Iowa. She is
editor of Verdi’s I masnadieri (2000) and his Secular Cantatas (forthcoming),
co-editor of Verdi 2001: Atti del Convegno internazionale (2003), and editor of
Verdi Forum. She has also published widely on Italian opera, including essays in
Cambridge Opera Journal, Music and Letters, Studi verdiani, the Bollettino del
Centro rossiniano di studi, the Musical Quarterly, and Verdi’s Middle Period
(Martin Chusid, ed., 1997).
Cormac Newark, having been Research Fellow in Music at Trinity Hall, Cambridge,
is now engaged in a two-year program of research in Italy sponsored by the
Leverhulme Trust. He has published in the Cambridge Opera Journal, the Journal
of the Royal Musical Association, and the Guardian, and has contributed to
various collections of essays, including Reading Critics Reading (Roger Parker
and Mary Ann Smart, eds., 2001) and the Cambridge Companion to Rossini
(Emanuele Senici, ed., forthcoming).
Mary Jane Phillips-Matz, a Co-Founder and Executive Board member of the
American Institute for Verdi Studies at New York University, is the author of
Verdi: A Biography (1993), which won the Royal Philharmonic Society Award in
London and the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award in New York, both in 1995, and
has recently been published in French by Fayard and in Spanish by Paidos. Her
book Puccini: A Biography appeared in 2002.
Harold Powers has taught at Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania
(jointly in Music and South Asian Studies), and Princeton University, and has
been Visiting Professor at seven American and European universities. He is a
member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Corresponding Fellow
of the British Academy, and honorary member of the American Musicological
Society. He has published extensively on Indic musicology, Italian opera, and the
history of music theory.
Alessandro Roccatagliati is Associate Professor of Musical Dramaturgy at the
University of Ferrara. He is general co-editor of the Edizione critica delle opere di
Vincenzo Bellini and is currently working on the critical edition of La
sonnambula. His publications include “Rigoletto” di Giuseppe Verdi (1991) and
Felice Romani librettista (1996).
Emanuele Senici is University Lecturer in Music at the University of Oxford and
Fellow of St. Hugh’s College, Oxford. Among his recent Verdian publications are
“Verdi’s Falstaff at Italy’s Fin de Siecle” (Musical Quarterly, 2001) and “Per
Guasco, Ivanoff e Moriani: le tre versioni della romanza di Foresto nell’Attila” in
Pensieri per un maestro: Studi in onore di Pierluigi Petrobelli (Stefano La Via and
Roger Parker, eds., 2002).
Mary Ann Smart is Associate Professor of Music at the University of California,
Berkeley. She is author of the articles on Bellini and Donizetti in the New Grove,
and editor of Siren Songs: Representations of Gender and Sexuality in Opera
(2000) and (with Roger Parker) Reading Critics Reading: Opera and Ballet
Criticism in France from the Revolution to 1848 (2001). Her book Mimomania:
Music and Gesture in Nineteenth-Century Opera was published by the University
of California Press in 2004.
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xii Notes on contributors
Rosa Solinas is currently Publications Editor for Wexford Festival Opera. She has
worked in the opera industry in London and Bologna and lectured at Oxford
University. Her research focuses on Italian late nineteenth- and early
twentieth-century opera (especially Arrigo Boito) and theatre; her published
work includes contributions to Italian Studies and The Oxford Companion to
Italian Literature (2001).
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Preface
One of the most beloved composers of the nineteenth century, GiuseppeVerdi has rightfully enjoyed a high standing among opera lovers that con-tinues to grow as productions and recordings of his works – including thosethat are lesser known – multiply and as the sophisticated artistry of his ma-ture style becomes increasingly apparent. This Companion examines Verdi’soperas and other music in the context of his life, his social and culturalsurroundings, and the tradition of nineteenth-century Italian opera. Sincea number of exemplary life-and-works treatments of Verdi are already avail-able, this volume proceeds differently. It centers on a series of essays, eachinvestigating a different theme across Verdi’s career, that reveal aspects of hisstyle and lines of development that might be obscured if individual operaswere discussed separately.
The Companion to Verdi, like other volumes in the series, is aimed pri-marily at students and opera lovers who already have a broad backgroundin music history and theory but have not proceeded to a specialized level.Authors have provided the foundation for students and performers to beginreading more specialized literature and pursuing their own investigationsor for other opera lovers to expand and enrich their experiences of Verdi’smusic. At the same time, many chapters offer the fruits of new researchand explore a particular thesis, and consequently may interest scholars al-ready working in the field. Although each chapter constitutes a free-standingarticle, the Companion has been designed to create a readably intensive, in-tegrated overview of Verdi’s oeuvre while avoiding unnecessary overlaps. Soit might, for example, serve as a focus for all or parts of a course on Verdi, onnineteenth-century Italian opera, or on topics in nineteenth-century music.
The Companion’s opening chapters treat Verdi’s personal and culturalenvironment. Mary Jane Phillips-Matz’s biographical sketch introduces thereader to the composer’s boyhood and education, his difficult entry into theoperatic world, his relationships with librettists and performers, his involve-ment in Italian politics, and his activities in semi-retirement. Verdi’s successas a composer depended to a great extent on understanding the conventionsof the Italian theatre and surmounting its many obstacles. Alessandro Roc-catagliati’s chapter on the theatre business explains the basic circumstancesof opera production when Verdi came onto the scene, then discusses theeffect of Verdi’s rising status on his dealings with management, performers,
[xiii]
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xiv Preface
and censors, and on attitudes toward the integrity of the musical score.Mary Ann Smart reexamines Verdi’s ambivalent engagement with ItalianRomanticism and the Risorgimento, the “myth” of his artistic leadershipof the revolutionary movement, and his handling of patriotic themes inpolitical opera.
The next section explores aspects of musical and textual style in Verdi’scompositions. The vast majority of Verdi’s lyrical set pieces are based onconventional schemata that are the Italian equivalent of the Viennese Clas-sical forms yet are much less familiar to students of opera. My own chapterexplains the designs of arias, duets, concertato finales, introduzioni, andscenes that end operas, suggesting ways in which Verdi modified the prac-tices of his predecessors to fit his increasingly plot-oriented approach, andalso examines his principles for constructing choruses. Fabrizio Della Seta’sintroduction to Verdi’s librettos provides a primer in the essentials of Ital-ian versification and compares the ways in which Verdi and his librettistsadapted literary sources, distributed singers’ workloads, treated versifica-tion, and chose wording in four operas across his career. Verdi’s musicchanged remarkably over the years as he personalized the style inheritedfrom his predecessors and developed a remarkably flexible and acute lan-guage. Emanuele Senici looks at ways in which music amplifies text at animmediate expressive level, analyzing the interaction between melodic formand poetic syntax and meaning, dramatization of evocative words and visualgestures, and musical word painting. Verdi’s introduction to French grandopera during his first sojourn in Paris (1847–49) left an indelible impression:from the 1850s on, virtually all of his operas synthesize French and Italianelements to varying degrees. Andreas Giger describes some of the broadertextual and musical features of French grand opera and French influenceon the forms of Verdi’s arias and on his treatment of chorus and ballet,instrumentation, and melodic style. Verdi set himself apart from his prede-cessors and paved the way for such later composers as Puccini by viewing hismature operas as unified wholes rather than as sequences of independentscenes. Steven Huebner investigates scholarly theories of structural coher-ence involving sonority, musical motive, and tonality, and the problem of“historical” analysis, particularly in Rigoletto, Il trovatore, and Un ballo inmaschera. Verdi was a leader among Italian composers in redefining theoperatic role of the orchestra. David Kimbell introduces the various typesof orchestral music in the operas – overtures and preludes for the opera andfor individual acts, scenic music, dances and full-fledged ballets, mimeticmusic that captures localized gestures – and discusses Verdi’s cultivation ofparlante, vocal music in which the orchestra plays the lead role. In addi-tion to operas, Verdi created a substantial body of other works for chorus,
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xv Preface
solo voices, and, to a much lesser extent, instruments. Roberta MontemorraMarvin surveys Verdi’s non-operatic songs, chamber and keyboard music,and choral works, giving special attention to the Requiem.
The following chapters discuss in detail four operas that represent dif-ferent stages of Verdi’s career: Ernani, an early success from Verdi’s “galleyyears”; Rigoletto, one of his most popular operas from his middle period;Don Carlos, perhaps the greatest of his French grand operas; and Otello,one of the two sublime masterpieces of Verdi’s old age. Though the focus ofeach of these chapters was chosen by its author, three of them deal, in differ-ent ways, with the theme of “otherness,” a coincidence indicative of recentscholarly directions. Rosa Solinas relates the evolution of the tenor role inthe mid-nineteenth century to characterization of the hero in Ernani andhis status as an outcast. Cormac Newark examines the alleged importanceof the curse motive in the musical structure and genesis of Rigoletto and thedetachment of the three leads – and even the most famous song in the opera,“La donna e mobile” – from their social, historical, and stylistic contexts.My chapter on Otello discusses ways in which Desdemona’s defeat by Iagoin their contest over control of her husband and her subsequent alienationare conveyed not only through words and actions but also through shifts inher musical style and through Verdi’s organization of keys. In contrast tothese three interpretive essays, Harold Powers introduces Don Carlos witha discussion of Verdi’s adaptation of the source play, production history,and aspects of French style, and compares in close detail the several vari-ants of this opera, guiding the reader through the extremely complicatedtextual problems created by the principal Italian revision (and others) ofthe French original. Powers also comments on recorded performances ofvarious versions of this opera.
Two final chapters introduce the reader to some important tools of Verdischolarship – the documentary sources used in studying the creative processand in editing scores – and to directions taken by Verdi scholars over the pastcentury. Luke Jensen gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at Verdi’s col-laboration with librettists, theatre managers, performers, and publishers bytracing seven creative stages – from the scenario to revisions of the publishedscore – and proposes subdividing Verdi’s career into four periods based onshifts in his working methods. Gregory Harwood chronicles Verdi’s risingfortunes in the critical literature, discussing the principal biographical andstylistic studies and identifying recent scholarly trends.
A word concerning citation of sources. Scenes from the play on whichan opera was based are designated with the act and scene in upper- andlower-case roman numerals and the line(s) in arabic numerals (e.g. III,ii, 24); operatic scenes defined by locale are designated with upper- andlower-case roman numerals (e.g. III, ii); individual musical pieces follow
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xvi Preface
Martin Chusid’s A Catalog of Verdi’s Operas and are given with acts inroman numerals and pieces, numbered continuously across the opera, inarabic numerals (e.g. III, 12).
I wish to thank all the authors and my editors for their patience with thelengthy process of bringing the Companion to completion. Special thanks tomy copyeditor Laura Davey for her superhuman attention to detail. DeanTimothy Blair of the West Chester University School of Music providedgrants for translating two of the chapters. Roger Parker offered consistentlyhelpful input concerning the selection of contributors. Judy Balthazar editedmy own chapters and this preface. I am grateful to her and to our son Davidfor their support during the minor trials involved in preparing this volume.
Scott L. Balthazar
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Chronology
Year Biography Music and musicians
1813 Verdi born, October 9 or 10, in
Roncole near Busseto, son of
Carlo Verdi and Luigia (nee
Uttini)
Rossini, Tancredi, Venice, La Fenice,
February 6
Wagner born, Leipzig, May 22
Gretry dies, Paris, September 24
Teresa Brambilla, soprano, born,
Cassano d’Adda, October 23
Felice Varesi, baritone, born, Calais
1814 Napoleon exiled to Elba, April
1815 Napoleon defeated at Waterloo, June
18, and exiled to St. Helena,
ending the “Hundred Days”
Giuseppina Strepponi, soprano,
born, Lodi, September 8
Leon Escudier born, Castelnaudary,
September 15
Temistocle Solera, librettist, born,
Ferrara, December 25
1816 Gaetano Fraschini, tenor, born,
Pavia, February 16
Rossini, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Rome,
Argentina, February 20
Paisiello dies, Naples, June 5
Rossini, Otello, Naples, Fondo,
December 41817 Prior to age four, begins
instruction in music and other
subjects with local priests
Rossini, La Cenerentola, Rome, Valle,
January 25
Madame de Stael dies, Paris, July 14
Mehul dies, Paris, October 18
1818 Marianna Barbieri-Nini, soprano,
born, Florence, February 18
Erminia Frezzolini, soprano, born,
Orvieto, March 27
Gounod born, Paris, June 17
Rossini, La donna del lago, Naples,
San Carlo, October 24
1819 Offenbach born, Cologne, June 20
[xvii]
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xviii Chronology
1820 Age seven, father buys him a
spinet
Vittorio Emanuele II born, Turin,
March 14
Jenny Lind, soprano, born,
Stockholm, October 6
Carbonari-led Neapolitan revolution
forces King Ferdinand I to
promise a constitution
1821 Weber, Der Freischutz, Berlin,
Schauspielhaus, June 18
1822 Age nine, becomes permanent
organist at local church, San
Michele
E. T. A. Hoffmann dies, Berlin,
June 25
1823 Moves with family to Busseto Rossini, Semiramide, Venice, La
Fenice, February 3
1824 Age eleven, enters ginnasio in
Busseto, is trained in Italian,
Latin, humanities, and rhetoric
Bruckner born, Ansfelden,
September 4
Antonio Ghizlanzoni born, Lecco,
November 25
Cornelius born, Mainz, December 24
Leone Giraldoni, baritone, born,
Paris
1825 Begins lessons with Ferdinando
Provesi, maestro di cappella at
San Bartolomeo in Busseto,
director of municipal music
school and local Philharmonic
Society
Winter dies, Munich, October 17
Alessandro Manzoni, I promessi sposi
(1825–27)
1826 Begins composing instrumental
and vocal music
Sophie Cruvelli, soprano, born,
Bielefeld, March 12
Weber dies, London, June 5
1827 Beethoven dies, Vienna, March 26
Bellini, Il pirata, Milan, La Scala,
October 27
Victor Hugo, preface to Cromwell
1828 Auber, La muette de Portici, Paris,
Opera, February 29
Schubert dies, Vienna, November 19
1829 Applies unsuccessfully for
position as organist in Soragna
Rossini, Guillaume Tell, Paris, Opera,
August 3
1830 Goldmark born, Keszthely, May 18
Donizetti, Anna Bolena, Milan,
Carcano, December 26
Hugo, Hernani
1831 In May, moves into the house of
Antonio Barezzi, his first
patron
Bellini, La sonnambula, Milan,
Carcano, March 6
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xix Chronology
Begins relationship with Barezzi’s
daughter Margherita
Meyerbeer, Robert le diable, Paris,
Opera, November 21
Is granted a scholarship by the
local Monte di Pieta e
d’Abbondanza for 1833;
Barezzi supplies funds for 1832
Bellini, Norma, Milan, La Scala,
December 26
Unsuccessful Carbonari-led
revolutions occur in Bologna,
Parma, and Modena
Mazzini founds nationalist society,
Young Italy
1832 In May, Verdi moves to Milan, is
rejected for admission to the
Conservatory
Camille Du Locle, librettist, born,
Orange, July 16
Hugo, Le roi s’amuseBegins private study of
counterpoint and free
composition with Vincenzo
Lavigna, previously maestro
concertatore at La Scala
1833 Brahms born, Hamburg, May 7
Provesi dies, Busseto, July 26
Donizetti, Lucrezia Borgia, Milan, La
Scala, December 26
1834 Assists at the keyboard in
performances of Haydn’s
Creation by a Milanese
Philharmonic Society directed
by Pietro Massini
Ludovic Halevy, librettist, born,
Paris, January 1
Teresa Stolz, soprano, born,
Elbekosteletz (now Kostelec nad
Labem), June 2 or 5
Ponchielli born, Paderno Fasolaro
(now Paderno Ponchielli),
August 31
1835 Completes studies with Lavigna
Co-directs Rossini’s La
Cenerentola with Massini
Bellini, I puritani, Paris, Italien,
January 24
Bellini dies, Puteaux, September 23
Donizetti, Lucia di Lammermoor,
Naples, San Carlo, September 26
1836 Appointed maestro di musica in
Busseto
Meyerbeer, Les huguenots, Paris,
Opera, February 29
Marries Margherita Barezzi
Moves back to Busseto; directs
and composes for the
Philharmonic Society and gives
private music lessons
Composes cantata for Massini’s
Philharmonic Society to honor
Austrian Emperor Ferdinand I
Lavigna dies, Milan, September 14
Maria Malibran, mezzo-soprano,
dies, Manchester, September 23
Giuseppe Mazzini, Filosofia della
musica
Composes first opera, Rocester
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xx Chronology
1837 March 26, daughter Virginia is
born
Mercadante, Il giuramento, Milan, La
Scala, March 11
Zingarelli dies, Torre del Greco,
May 5
1838 July 11, son Icilio Romano is born
August 12, Virginia dies
Bizet born, Paris, October 25
October, resigns position in
BussetoFirst publication, Sei romanze,
appears in Milan
1839 February, moves back to Milan
October 22, Icilio Romano dies
Paer dies, Paris, May 3
November 17, Oberto (revision
of Rocester) performed, Milan,
La Scala
1840 June, Margherita dies
September 5, Un giorno di regno
fails, Milan, La Scala
Verdi temporarily gives up
composing
Paganini dies, Nice, May 27
Pacini, Saffo, Naples, San Carlo,
November 29
Giulio Ricordi born, Milan,
December 19
1841
1842 March 9, Nabucco succeeds
famously, Milan, La Scala
Boito born, Padua, February 24
Cherubini dies, Paris, March 15
Massenet born, Montand,
Saint-Etienne, May 12
Wagner, Rienzi, Dresden, Kgl.
Sachsisches Hoftheater, October
20
Maria Waldmann, mezzo-soprano,
born, Vienna
Gazzetta musicale di Milano founded
by Ricordi
1843 February 11, I lombardi
performed, Milan, La Scala
Visits Vienna
Wagner, Der fliegende Hollander,
Dresden, Kgl. Sachsisches
Hoftheater, January 2
Donizetti, Don Pasquale, Paris,
Italien, January 3
Adelina Patti, soprano, born,
Madrid, February 19Pacini, Medea, Palermo, Carolino,
November 28
1844 March 9, Ernani performed,
Venice, La Fenice
November 3, I due Foscari
performed, Rome, Argentina
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xxi Chronology
Begins to buy property in and
near Busseto
1845 February 15, Giovanna d’Arco
performed, Milan, La Scala
Wagner, Tannhauser, Dresden, Kgl.
Sachsisches Hoftheater, October
19August 12, Alzira performed,
Naples, San Carlo Mayr dies, Bergamo, December 2
1846 March 17, Attila performed,
Venice, La Fenice
1847 March 14, Macbeth performed,
Florence, Pergola
Mendelssohn dies, Leipzig,
November 4
March until mid-1849, takes long
trip beginning in London; lives
in Paris with Strepponi for
approximately two years
Romilda Pantaleoni, soprano, born,
Udine
July 22, I masnadieri performed,
London, Her Majesty’s
November 26, Jerusalem (revision
of I lombardi) performed, Paris,
Opera
1848 Visits Milan
October 25, Il corsaro performed,
Trieste, Grande
Victor Maurel, baritone, born,
Marseilles, June 17
Donizetti dies, Bergamo,
November 29First Italian War of Independence
(1848–49)
1849 January 27, La battaglia di
Legnano performed, Rome,
Argentina
Meyerbeer, Le prophete, Paris, Opera,
April 16
Nicolai dies, Berlin, May 11
Returns to Bussetto with
Strepponi
Chopin dies, Paris, October 17
December 8, Luisa Miller
performed, Naples, San Carlo
1850 November 16, Stiffelio performed,
Trieste, Grande
Wagner, Lohengrin, Weimar,
Grossherzoglisches Hoftheater,
August 28
Francesco Tamagno, tenor, born,
Turin, December 28
1851 March 11, Rigoletto performed,
Venice, La Fenice
Spontini dies, Maiolati, January 24
With Strepponi, moves to farm of
Sant’Agata, near Busseto
1852 Salvatore Cammarano, librettist,
dies, Naples, July 17
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1853 January 19, Il trovatore
performed, Rome, Apollo
March 6, La traviata performed,
Venice, La Fenice
Giovanni Ricordi dies, Milan,
March 15
Tito Ricordi becomes director of the
Casa Ricordi (through 1888)
1854 Through 1855, spends two years
in Paris, in which he completes
and supervises production of
Les vepres siciliennes
Catalani born, Lucca, June 19
Humperdinck born, Siegburg,
September 1
Wagner, Das Rheingold (first
performed Munich, Kgl. Hof- und
National, September 22, 1869)
1855 June 13, Les vepres siciliennes
performed, Paris, Opera
1856 Wagner, Die Walkure (first
performed Munich, Kgl. Hof- und
National, June 26, 1870)
Schumann dies, Endenich, July 29
1857 March 12, Simon Boccanegra
performed, Venice, La Fenice
Leoncavallo born, Naples, April 23
Substantially expands his estate at
Sant’Agata
August 16, Aroldo (revision of
Stiffelio) performed, Rimini,
Nuovo
1858 Offenbach, Orphee aux enfers, Paris,
Bouffes-Parisiens, October 21
Puccini born, Lucca, December 22 or
23
1859 February 17, Un ballo in maschera
performed, Rome, Apollo
Gounod, Faust , Paris, Lyrique,
March 19
Marries Strepponi
“Viva VERDI” appears as an
acrostic message (standing for
Viva V ittorio Emanuele Re
D’Italia) of Italian nationalism
Wagner, Tristan und Isolde (first
performed Munich, Kgl. Hof- und
National, June 10, 1865)
Spohr dies, Kassel, October 22
Second Italian War of Independence
(1859–60)
1860 Renovates estate at Sant’Agata Mahler born, Kaliste, July 7
Garibaldi conquers Sicily and Naples
1860–80, period of the scapigliati led
by Boito
1861 Through 1865, serves as deputy
for Borgo San Donnino (now
Fidenza) in the first Italian
parliament
Eugene Scribe, librettist, dies, Paris,
February 20
Cavour becomes first prime minister
of Italy
Cavour dies, Turin, June 6
Marschner dies, Hanover,
December 14
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xxiii Chronology
Vittorio Emanuele II becomes King
of united Italy
1862 Through 1863, travels twice to
Russia for La forza del destino,
and to Paris, London, and
Madrid
Collaborates with Arrigo Boito on
the Inno delle nazioni,
performed London, Her
Majesty’s, May 24
Gustave Vaez, librettist, dies, Paris,
March 12
Debussy born, Saint-Germain-en-
Laye, August 22
Alessandro Lanari, impresario, dies,
Florence, October 3
November 10, La forza del destino
performed, St. Petersburg,
Imperial
1863 Mascagni born, Livorno,
December 7
Bizet, Les pecheurs de perles, Paris,
Lyrique, September 30
1864 Meyerbeer dies, Paris, May 2
Richard Strauss born, Munich, June
11
Antonio Somma, librettist, dies,
Venice, August 8
1865 April 21, revised Macbeth
performed, Paris, Lyrique
Meyerbeer, L’africaine, Paris, Opera,
April 28
Felice Romani, librettist, dies,
Moneglia, January 28Joseph Mery, librettist, dies, Paris,
June 17
1866 Through 1867, travels to Paris for
Don Carlos
With Strepponi, sets up winter
retreat in Genoa
Cilea born, Palmi, July 26
Sophie Loewe, soprano, dies,
Budapest, November 29
Annexation of Venetia
1867 March 11, Don Carlos performed,
Paris, Opera
Arturo Toscanini born, Parma,
March 25
Giordano born, Foggia, August 28
Pacini dies, Pescia, December 6
Rome won from France, becomes
capital of Italy
1868 Takes first substantial trip to
Milan in twenty years; meets
Alessandro Manzoni
Boito, Mefistofele, Milan, La Scala,
March 5
Proposes the collaborative Messa
per Rossini, to be created under
the auspices of the Ricordi
publishing house in Milan
Wagner, Die Meistersinger von
Nurnberg , Munich, Kgl. Hof- und
National, June 21
Rossini dies, Passy, November 13
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1869 Supervises production of revised
Forza del destino in Milan, his
first work with La Scala since
1845; performed February 27
Berlioz dies, Paris, March 8
Suez Canal completed
1870 Mercadante dies, Naples,
December 17
1871 December 24, Aida performed,
Cairo, Opera
Auber dies, Paris, May 12 or 13
Wagner, Siegfried (first performed
Bayreuth, Festspielhaus, August
16, 1876)
1872 Enters semi-retirement at
Sant’Agata
Mazzini dies, Pisa, March 10
1873 Manzoni dies, Milan, May 22
1874 May 22, Messa da Requiem in
honor of Manzoni performed,
Milan, San Marco
Cornelius dies, Copenhagen,
October 26
Wagner, Gotterdammerung (first
performed Bayreuth,
Festspielhaus, August 17, 1876)
1875 Tours Europe directing the
Requiem
Benjamin Lumley, impresario, dies,
London, March 17
Alphonse Royer, theatre manager
and librettist, dies, Paris, April 11Montemezzi born, Vigasio, May 31
Bizet dies, Bougival, June 3
Bizet, Carmen, Paris, Comique,
March 3
1876 Conflict with Strepponi over his
relationship with Teresa Stolz
reaches a crisis
Wolf-Ferrari born, Venice, January
12
Francesco Maria Piave, librettist,
dies, Milan, March 5
Wagner, first complete performance
of Der Ring des Nibelungen,
Bayreuth, Festspielhaus, August
13, 14, 16, 17
Ponchielli, La gioconda, Milan, La
Scala, April 8
1877
1878 Vittorio Emanuele II dies, Rome,
January 9
Solera dies, Milan, April 21
1879 Giulio Ricordi and Boito propose
an operatic Othello
Merelli dies, Milan, April 10
1880 Pizzetti born, Parma, September 20
Offenbach dies, Paris, October 5
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1881 March 24, revised Simon
Boccanegra performed, Milan,
La Scala
Vincenzo Jacovacci, impresario, dies,
Rome, March 30
Escudier dies, Paris, June 22
1882 Malipiero born, Venice, March 18
Wagner, Parsifal, Bayreuth,
Festspielhaus, July 26
Garibaldi dies, Caprera, June 2
1883 Wagner dies, Venice, February 13
Giovanni Mario, tenor, dies, Rome,
December 11
1884 January 10, Don Carlo (revision of
Don Carlos) performed, Milan,
La Scala
Massenet, Manon, Paris, Comique,
January 19
Puccini, Le villi, Milan, Dal Verme,
May 31
Frezzolini dies, Paris, November 5
1885 Hugo dies, Paris, May 221886 Ponchielli dies, Milan, January 16
Liszt dies, Bayreuth, July 31
1887 February 5, Otello performed,
Milan, La Scala
Fraschini dies, Naples, May 23
Lind dies, Wynds Point,
Herefordshire, November 2
Barbieri-Nini dies, Florence,
November 27
1888 Verdi’s hospital, Villanova
sull’Arda, Piacenza, opens
Tito Ricordi dies, Milan,
September 7
Giulio Ricordi becomes director of
the Casa Ricordi (through 1912)
1889 Boito proposes an opera based
primarily on Shakespeare’s
Merry Wives of Windsor
Varesi dies, Milan, March 13
1890 Giorgio Ronconi, baritone, dies,
Madrid, January 8
Mascagni, Cavalleria rusticana,
Rome, Costanzi, May 17
1891
1892 Leoncavallo, I pagliacci, Milan, Dal
Verme, May 21
Massenet, Werther, Vienna, Hofoper,
February 16
1893 February 9, Falstaff performed,
Milan, La Scala
Puccini, Manon Lescaut , Turin,
Regio, February 1
Ghizlanzoni dies, Caprino
Bergamasco, July 16
Catalani dies, Milan, August 7
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Gounod dies, Saint-Cloud,
October 18
1894
1895 Brambilla dies, Milan, July 15
1896 Begins building the Casa di
Riposo
Puccini, La boheme, Turin, Regio,
February 1
Bruckner dies, Vienna, October 11
1897 November 14, Strepponi dies,
Sant’Agata
Brahms dies, Vienna, April 3
Giraldoni dies, Moscow, September
19 or October 1
1898
1899 Casa di Riposo opens
1900 December, arranges for his
youthful compositions to be
burned after his death
Puccini, Tosca, Rome, Costanzi,
January 14
1901 January 21, suffers a stroke
January 27, Verdi dies
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